#16. Tripas Tacos at Taco Pronto

You'll have noticed we're changing who writes this feature on a day by day basis: this is how you know we're getting close to the end of our countdown. Make sure to pick up a copy of our Best of OC 2010 when it hits the newsstands October 14!

If you're the sort that scans through a taquería menu and considers the odd bits--cabeza, lengua, tripas, sesos, buche and such--you understand that ordering them comes with a high risk of poor execution. How many times have you received grey cubes of tough, undercooked, unsalted lengua? No wonder organ meats get a bad rap.

The tripas tacos at Taco Pronto are not beef stomach, but small intestine, and they're crave-worthy: a perfectly cooked thing of contrasting textures and bold flavors.

As a raw ingredient, intestines are pallid grey, rubber-worm-looking tubes with zero eye appeal. They're simmered until tender, then chopped finely and cooked again atop the flat-top griddle, where they're transformed into a gorgeous dark brown. The thinner pieces of tripitas take on a crispy texture and toasty flavor, while the thicker pieces retain a pleasant chewiness.

A squeeze of lemon juice brightens the fat in these little crispy critters, but the star, flavor-wise, are their home-made salsas. The salsa roja is made early in the morning, long before customers arrive. Why? Cooks toast big bags of chiles japonesas over high heat on the griddle until charred, releasing billows of eye-tearing smoke. Then, they blend buckets of raw onion and fresh tomato with these dark chiles to thicken the brick-red salsa into something muy picosa. Their salsa quemada, on the other hand, is a chunkier, fire-roasted creation with bits of charred vegetables and a milder heat level.

Both salsas plus the lemon juice make for a deliciously drippy taco, the kind where you aim the juice that runs past your fingers onto the accompanying tostada chips so you don't waste any. Snarling from the chile heat and smacking your lips like an animal, it's a meal you probably want to enjoy by yourself unless you go with other carnivorous jackals that share your primal urge to eat intestine.